


Better Than the Night Mother

by Inuyashagirl2015



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 14:19:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10573041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inuyashagirl2015/pseuds/Inuyashagirl2015
Summary: Before the Night Mother, Astrid was my most important person. Now that I'm Listener, everyone thinks that I'll push her to the side, even Astrid herself. But... what if I don't want to? What if, to me, Astrid will always be better than the Night Mother? Astrid/OC (OFC). Transfer from FF.





	1. Chapter 1

2017 Update: I'm not even gonna read over it before transfering this 2012 fic, so i was... 15? Don't expect much XD  
I... really hadn't anticipated this. maybe I should have, but I didn't. Obviously, I knew that something would happen, I mean, seriously, you don't just pretend to be a member of the Dark Brotherhood and take a potential kill from right under their noses and just expect to get away unscathed. Even if their power has greatly diminished from what it was when my so-many-greats grandmother was the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, some four-hundred or so years ago (Ironically, she was also the Arch-mage of the Mages Guild, the "Gray Fox" in the Thieves Guild, Arena Champion, Master of the Fighters Guild, which I think was her equivalent of the Companions AND Champion and Savior of Cyrodill, by the end of her long and very interesting journey. I would know, she kept a journal, several, actually, it would have been impossible to record her whole life in a single book, which have been passed down through our family since her death, and I've read all of them in detail several times. They're quite interesting, to say the least), it's still a known fact that you don't screw with the DB and expect to get away with it, you just don't!  
Regardless, when I had heard a rumour about a young orphaned boy trying to trying to contact the Brotherhood, I was very curious- And when I get curious, the curiosity refuses to leave me alone until its satisfied. So, eventually, I ended up in Windhelm, where I knew the boy was. Of course, at first I had no idea where in Windhelm he was, but you would be amazed how far a slightly low cut tunic, a pretty smile, flattery, and a pouch full of gold, or some combination of those things, can get you.  
Within half an hour of arriving, I already knew the exact location of the child (though suppose that, being only 17, I probably shouldn't be refereing to a 12 year old boy as a child just yet). I strode into the house, not sneaking, since that would just look strange and suspicious if someone saw, and was immediately greated by the boy. He asked me if I was from the Dark Brotherhood, but then answered his own question (incorrectly, as he decided that I was, indeed, a member of it), leaving me no time to deny it before he told me of his predicament. I shouldn't have listened to what he was saying, I really shouldn't have, I should, instead, have listened to that little voice in my head that said that I should have just told him I wasn't from the Dark Brotherhood and just left.   
But no, I just had to stay and listen, and by the end, I was cursing my stupid self and how I could never walk away from someone who was in trouble but didn't deserve it, and it wasn't just Aventus Aretino who was suffering either! All of the orphans who remained under her care were currently suffering, and the thought both saddened and incensed me. I couldn't stand it when people who were supposed to take care of children, their own or otherwise, failed to do so properly, or, even worse, abused those children in some way, it just hit way too close to home.  
So, by the end, I just knew that, despite the voice of reason saying that this was a bad idea, and if I wanted to live, and keep all of my limbs and not be tortured to death by pissed-off assassins, I should really just apologize to this kid and walk away, despite all of the people who had warned me off of it when I got info about it from then, I just couldn't break this kid's heart and I could knowlingly let children, who had already lost their parents, suffer when all it would take is a bit of sneaking, a slash from a dagger, and perhaps an invisibility potion to keep people from noticing me leaving.  
I actually only said one word to the kid. After he finished giving me all of the necessary information, the name of the caretaker, the orphange location, ect, I assumed my role as an "assassin" and only nodded, signaling that I would "Accept his contract" and finally (too little, too late, though), but before I could sneak out (just cementing my image as an "assassin" in the kid's mind), he had one more thing to say. Honestly, it really got to me, it was just so innocent and childlike, and it broke my heart that this innocent young boy had gone through so much.  
"Thank you, Miss..." I could hear the uncertainty in his voice as he spoke to me, probably for the last time. Obviously he wasn't sure whether it was okay for him to, first of all, thank me for killing somone, and secondly, he started to call me something, probably Miss Assassin or something similar, but then realised that it might be offensive or I might be a "Mrs" rather than a miss "Miss." Gah, I literally felt might heart go out to him- I really should have been a teacher or an orphanage worker or something, kids are like the only thing that can get past my shields and worm their way into my heart. Deciding to not make him suffer the anxiety of wondering if he should have said anything or not, I simply turned around, towards him, smiled kindly (perhaps breaking character, but then, my so-many-greats grandmother was an assassin and she loved kids too, even had some of her own, and from the stories people passed down about her, she was pretty much the most loving mother ever) and simply said, "Dragon". Then, I actually left.  
Yup. Dragon. That's my name. Ha ha, laugh it up all you want, "The Dragonborn's name is Dragon, what delicious irony," Yada yada yada, I've thought and heard it all before, it's old news, get over it.  
The second I closed the door behind me, I came up out of my crouch and face-palmed at my stupid protective, sympathetic and motherly nature as I leaned against the stone building. This really isn't the first time it's gotten me into an awkward and not-necesarily-safe situation, but this is by far the worst one I've ever been in. Oh well, maybe fate'll get me out of this one too, I mean, I'm currently the only Dragonborn of this century and there are more than enough Dragons out there to severely decimate, if not wipe out most of the people in Tamriel, since they would keep coming back no matter how many times you kill them without me. Whatever, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.  
I groaned, though, as I began the journey to the familiar city of Riften. I could practically feel someone watching me, and, as it was, I wasn't sure if I was just being paranoid (which happened fairly often, actually) or if I truly was being watched, it could go either way at this point.  
The actual process of finding the with was fairly uneventful. I really just talked to the children, the secondary caretaker, and then I had a short, unpleasant experience where I actually talked to the hostile bitch herself.   
I left after a few minutes, seemingly because I was disappointed that I was not able to adopt any of them, though honestly, I just felt really bad about getting the orphaned children's hopes up that they would be adopted only to let them be crushed by a heartless shrew moments later.   
I stood outside of the orphanage awkwardly for a moment, not really knowing what to do since, judging by the position of the sun, it was around noon-ish- Too early for a quick visit to an inn to have a drink while I wait for the sun to set and the residents of Honorhall Orphanage to call it a day, but too late to travel to another city or finish any important quests.   
For lack of any better idea, I simply strolled into the center of town and browsed. I was given a welcoming nod as I passed Grelka's kiosk, which, honestly, I think may be the most friendly reaction anyone in Skyrim can get from her, though I didn't stop by as there was nothing new in her stall that I actually wanted  
I was greated very cheerfully by the Argonian running the jewelry kiosk, and at this stand, I actually stopped, remembering some jewels that I had picked up recently in my travel.  
"Hey Madesi, I believe I recall that, earlier, you mentioned something about needing flawless sapphires?"  
"Indeed I did, Dragon, so good of you to remember." He teased lightly, but then a curious look took over his lizardesque face, "You wouldn't have happened to have gotten your pretty little elven hands on them, would you?" I could understand his suprise and doubt- sapphires were rare enough, but flawless sapphire were nearly impossible to find.  
"Suprisingly, yes. Four of them actually." I took them out of my pack as I spoke and handed them to the Argonian for the extreme inspection that I knew they would endure under his expert gaze, trusting that A) Madesi is not stupid and unloyal (for we have been friends a good while, after I got him flawless amethysts and gold ore for his jewelry and he paid me quite generously) enough to try to steal precious gems from me of all people and B) In the very unlikely case that, through some bought of insanity, he tries to make off with them or cheat me, I would be able to catch him easily enough and I would see his lie if that is what he chose to do.  
Luckily, my suspicions were put to rest very quickly. The only thing that happened when I let him inspect the precious stone was his eyes steadily, and quite comically, widening as he turned each of the jewels over in his palm in ever direction several times, looking for some indication that they were fakes or imperfect in some way. When he found done, her reached into his pocket and brought out a small but very powerful magnifying glass. I had been informed of it by Madesi in another discussion of ours. Though initially very expensive, it had, apparently, paid for itself eventually. Many serious jewelers saved up money to buy them because the human (Argonian, Khajiit, Orcish and whatever else) eye could not detect certain flaws on jewels that made them imperfect, so they bought the gems at extremely high price, only for the gems to show their imperfection as the jewel was used to make some very exact piece of jewelry that could not be made with anything less than a flawless gem, since a normal one could not withstand being cut so finely and precisely.  
I wasn't insulted that he was double checking my opinion on it being flawless, I would have too, though I was almost certain that they were, indeed, perfect, as I had found them in dwarven ruines and the Dwemer accepted nothing but the best.  
After several moments of critical scrutiny, the Argonian finally set the small object down on the table in shock and prompty asked, "That's amazing, four flawless sapphires! Where in Tamriel did you find these?"   
I grinned and replied, "You probably won't be suprised at where I found them- They were in Dwarven ruins."  
Madesi laughed and replied, "The Dwarves, of course. They never did settle for anything but the best, back in their time. If they were less dangerous and I was more of a fighter, I'd have half a mind to brave a few myself for these gems! As it is, these are definitely worth a hefty price, and I have a commision from a Jarl to make a necklace for his wife, so these should be perfect. Now, what would you say is a fair price...?"  
In the end, we both walked away happy and on great terms, I with my money pouch significantly more hefty and he with priceless gems that he had gotten for a fair price. In fact, I don't think that either of us have ever walked away from one of our transactions in anything less than a good mood. We work very well together when it comes to bartering- He is not stupid enough to try and cheat me by giving me a bad price, and I, in turn, extend the same courtesy by not demanding more than a reasonable amount for whatever I happen to be selling (and I assume that it would work vice-versa, should I ever decide to buy any non-magical jewelry, which, sadly, is all that he sells.  
"Okay" I thought to myself, that cut off a bit of time, but I'm still relatively in the same boat as before. So, I wandered around town for a while, and I happened to end up at the Temple of Mara, which is one of the few buildings in Riften that I hadn't actually been in yet, and, as a half wood elf(the other half is imperial, which shows in my pale skin, inky black hair and some of my facial features), curiosity and love of exploration, not to mention that, though I wasn't really as close as most people were to the Divines, out of the Nine Divines, Mara was the only one that I had ever felt any real connection with.   
So I figured, what the hell? May as well check it out, since I hadn't done it before because I have only been in Skyrim for a few months and only recently found out which city Mara's Temple is in.  
I was actually quite happy with the result. The priests, I thought, reflected their Goddess, Mara, Goddess of love and compassion quite well. They welcomed me warmly when I came in, and I easily struck up a conversation with the head priest. I ended up talking to him for a good portion of the afternoon, walking with him as he did his duties, and occasionally helping when I could. I was a very enlightening experience and, while I may not be ready to forsake everything and become a priest of Mara, I do understand the Goddess a lot better, and I truly think that, if circumstances were different and if I didn't have so much riding on me, I think that maybe I could one day do that. As it is, I neither know her well enough nor do I have the time or circumstances, but still! And I can tell you for sure that I have made a new friend.  
One of the things we talked about was marriage, you know, Goddess of love and all, and he asked me if I was married. He was suprised when I said no, apparently I was "too pretty to be single, and I didn't even have an Amulet of Mara!" (it was purely friendly, I swear, one of the thing we found out was that he's gay and married to another priest and I'm definitely into my fellow females). When I asked him what, exactly, that was, he gave me a gobsmacked, and perhaps slightly insulted, look and promptly asked if I had live under a rock all my life, to which I replied, "No, I lived in Valenwood".  
So, I ended up finding out what an amulet of Mara was, which explained why some people gave me certain looks when I flirted! I didn't have an amulet, and I specifically recall some of them not wearing them, which means I probably seemed really obnoxious.  
I believe I owe certain people an apology.  
I ended up buying an amulet, because my pouch was nearly splitting because it was so full, especially after the deal with Madesi, and he had mentioned earlier that the temple needed all of the help it could get. Besides, it could come in handy, now I can flirt with pretty barmaids and not seem like I'm trying to cheat on a spouse or I'm too cheap to just get an amulet.  
Sadly, however, the hour grew later, and eventually I decided that it was time I get out of Maramel's hair and find something else to do from now (the sun was just setting, so probably around six-thirty or seven-ish) until all were asleep in Honorhall Orphanage (there were windows, so I could check to make sure that everyone was asleep before entering, but probably around ten or so)  
Honestly, I'm not gonna lie, I did nothing productive, just went into the Bee and The Barb (the owner of whom I had recently managed to convince to forgive me after that incident with the Guild where I had to, ahem, persuade her to pay her debt) and got dinner, just some bread and with butter and cheese and a glass of water- The perfect meal before a job, as Brynjolf had taught me- No meat, nothing with a strong smell, enough to be considered a meal but not enough to actually fill you up, nothing with even a hint of alcohol in it. In my mind, I would think that the same sort of meal would be best for a murder. I talked a bit to other inhabitants of the inn as I wasted time.   
Brynjolf, when he walked in, immediately noticed my choice of food, and though no other people noticed it, I saw the subtle question twitch of an eyebrow, his way of asking "Are you doing a job tonight?". After I joined the thieves guild, Brynjolf had, in essence, taken me under his wing, which was why I heard "So, your Brynjolf's new protege" Or some form of it nearly every other time I met someone else who was part of the Guild. Apparently he treated me differently than most new recruits, and honestly, I can kind of see how, he definitely spent much more time on training me personally, rather than recommending that I go to so-and-so to train me in such-and-such. He's taught me nearly everything that I've learned since joining the Guild, including the trick about what to eat before a job. I shook my head, not subtle like he had been, but instead as though to shake my hair out and raking my fringers through it a few times afterwards, just for effect. He nodded and looked away from me, and I doubted that he would ask question me about it later- Luckily, though he was oblivious when it came to his affection for Vex (which was obvious to everyone but him and Vex), he knew when not to question. It was a good trait to have in the theives guild.  
Time passed rather quickly until the moon suddenly appeared in the window and I knew that it was time. I thanked the hostess for the meal (which I had already paid for) and left quickly. The short walk to the orphanage went seamlessly, as no one I passed saw me since I was nearly perfect at sneaking, and picking the lock on the door was even easier.  
I was actually disappointed in the actual murder part, it was way too anticlimatic. I just walked in, not even having to try to sneak, since the secondary caretaker had her door closed and all of the children were sleeping. I was very tempted to wake up the sleeping shrew, Grellod the "Kind", just so that it would be more interesting, and say something like "Aventus Aretino says hello" or something even more foreboding, but then I decided against it, not wanting to risk the children somehow realising that I was a murderer, though I suppose that that was the reason why I had specifically put two invisibility potion in my pocket, rather then my pack, for easier access should anything happen.  
Just to be more dramatic, instead of simply slitting her throat with a dagger, as I should have done, I just assumed that it wouldn't make a difference, though I should have figured it would and shot her with my daedric bow, which I had made and perfected myself. That was a stupid thing to do, as she ended up letting out a cry when she died, which she wouldn't have if I hadn't decided to be fancy and I had simply slit her throat. I could hear the occupants of the other rooms getting up, and cursed my stupidity, but quickly slipped one of the vials of invisibility potion out of my pocket- Thank Mara for planning ahead!  
I had just consumed the entire potion when the first boy ran into the room, disappearing just in time to not be seen. I stayed crouched as I had the whole time, and easily slunk by the gathering children and out of the orphanage, and no one was any the wiser that it was me.  
I didn't wait for the guards to hear of it, in fact, I simply drank the other potion the moment I reappeared and then headed out the gates and away from the city, back towards Windhelm before most people even knew what had happened- I told you I was paranoid sometimes, but hey, it usually tends to nip situations in the bud before they even arise, so I don't think I'll try to fix it for now.  
The route back to Windhelm was pretty typical, just bandits, wolves and rogue thieves, nothing interesting happened. I was bored nearly the whole way there. When I did arrive, it was only just beginning to get bright outside. I was barely noticed by the guards as I silently walked into the city and I encountered no one but guards, who were too tired to care about me since their shift was almost over, and I slipped into the Aretino house without even having to pick the lock on the door, which kind of worried me, because Windhelm, while it is no Riften, is not exactly a place where you should leave your door unlocked, especially at night, especially if your a twelve year old boy all alone.  
Even this part was boring, because the boy wasn't even awake. I wondered which I should do, leave a note or be creepy and wait in his house for him to wake up. I just decided to leave a note.  
-Aventus Aretino  
The contract is complete. Grellod the Kind is dead. I require no payment, and this will almost undoubtedly be the last contact you and I will have, therefore I wish you luck in all of your future endeavores. Please don't try to get in contact with me personally and don't cast suspicion on yourself concerning your involvement in Grellod the Kind's death.  
And one more thing boy- Remember to lock your door, Windhelm is not a nice place for a child living alone.  
-Dragon  
I decided that that short but clear message should suffice and simply set it on the end table next to the bed, no doubt his Mother's bed before her death judging by the size and the contents of the room. Then, for good measure, I took out a dagger, one that I had been planning on selling, as it was a simple iron dagger, useless to me, since I had a Daedric dagger as well as my bow and another invisibility potion. I had to slam the dagger into the wood to get it to hold it the way I wanted it to, which made a somewhat loud sound. I chugged an invisibility potion immediately afterwards, just in case the sound woke him up. It was a good thing too, as he started when the sound occured and I turned invisible just before he looked in my direction. I crept backwards towards the entrance of the room, just in case he should decide to get up suddenly, then stood there, wondering how creepy it might be considered (not that anyone would find out) if I stood there and watched his reaction.  
It didn't take him long to notice my message, it's a bit hard to miss a dagger sticking out of your night stand, and I wondered if, perhaps I had stabbed a little to hard when he seemed to have trouble pulling the dagger out, but he got it eventually.  
I watched as several emotions flashed across his face- Happiness, relief, confusion at my not taking payment and at my apparent concern for his well being and finality as he finished it. He sat still for a few seconds, looking at the wall in front of him, as if in deep thought. Then his head snapped up, as if realising something important. His eyes swept around the room, not seeing the very vague abstracting effect of invisibility, though that was no suprise as I wasn't moving, and even if I was, a good portion of the time, using sight alone, I cannot detect someone when they are invisible, let alone an untrained child.  
He immeditaly jumped out of bed and ran to the door. I flattened myself against the piece of wall between the door of that room and the door of another and he ran past me obliviously and looked over the bannister at the lower floor. It took me a second, but then I figured out that he was looking for me, after all, if my putting the note there had woken him up then I might not have left yet for some reason, as that was maybe a minute ago at most.  
The boy must be a psychic, because almost immediately after thinking that question, the boy spoke to the supposedly empty house, though, obviously, he was talking to me, if I was still there (which I was.)  
"Miss, er, Dragon?" He began hesitantly. "I doubt your still here, but just in case you are, thanks. For, you know, everything." I wondered vaguely what he meant by everything, obviously it wasn't just killing Grellod... Maybe it was the fact that I let him keep whatever he was going to give me as payment or maybe it was my warnings. Maybe it was the fact that I cared, at least enough to give him those small warnings. Perhaps all three, perhaps something else entirely. I don't know and I don't think I'll ever know, but I did feel compelled to do one thing before I left.  
I made my voice move in such a way that it could have been comming from anywhere in the house but it was quiet enough that he could have imagined it- It was a much smaller, more controlled version of one of my Thu' um's.  
"Your welcome." The child whirled around, and for a moment, I almost wondered if he saw, me, but that fear was in vain, as he immediately searched the two rooms next to me with his eyes before calmly walking down the staircase and doing the same to those two, before, I think, concluding that he wouldn't find me. I quietly left the house through one of the second story windows, closing it behind so that no one would have known that I had been through there.  
All of that had happened about four days ago. I had left Windhelm, having really nothing to do there and then deciding to go to Whiterun, where I had a house of my own.  
As soon as I arrived at the city, about half of a day later, I was stopped by a courier. He handed me a message and left just as quickly as he had appeared. When I opened it, all that was there was a black hand print (my stupid paranoid mind suplied me with the info that my so-many-greats grandmother's journals had talked about "The Black Hand" in the Dark Brotherhood, and, hmm, could there be a connection?) and below it were the words, "We Know"  
That was it. No death threat's, I haven't been murdered yet, nothing!   
Of course, however, it made me paranoid. I felt constantly like I was being watched, always looking over my shoulder, keeping my back to walls, assossiating only with people I had known before. I almost asked Lydia to stay up and watch me while I slept, I was so paranoid. Instead, I just ended up sleeping in my bed in Jorrvaskr. I still didn't feel one hundred percent safe even there, in a room with four other companions, at least two of whom were werewolves (though I am not one, I know about them from that quest with Farkas), it was better than nothing, and I wasn't bothered at all on the first three nights.  
The thrid night, however, was a different story. You know how sometimes, when your really tired and injured, you stop thinking clearly and you just don't care and you do something that would have been dangerous under normal circumstances, and is even worse now? Well, that's kind of what happened.   
You see, I had been sent out on a quest for the companions. It was supposed to be very easy, trolls, maybe, and some bandits, nothing more. However, what was not taken into account was the fact that the "few" bandits that were seen were actually a very large hunting party of a huge bandit clan. It also wasn't taken into account that the place that they went into to stay for a while was ancient nordic ruins, and while that shouldn't have been a problem as they would have cleared them out while they were going deeper into it, it turns out that the most important chamber, which was huge and had an epic amount of gold and treasure in it for them to plunder, connected directly to the first chamber that you walk into. Here's the problem- It only opens from that side, but you know what? They have someone, someone who'seven better than me at sneaking, and they sent this person all the way through past fifty or so draugrs and he opened the passage for them from that side, and then they closed it behind them, so that no one could follow them.  
Do you know what that means? It meants that I had to go through all of the freaking draugrs to get to them, and while I did sneak past some, for the most part, it was almost impossible to sneak past a good deal of them, I have no idea how the person they sent through did it.  
So, after fighting my way through, oh, I'd say maybe thirty or so draugr, I finally made it to that stupid antechamber where all of the bandits were. I mentioned above that this was supposed to be a small bandit clan, right? And I also said that, apparently, the people who saw them only saw a large hunting party, rather than the whole band.   
So, I was expecting fifteen, maybe twenty bandits. There were about fourty in that room. I ended up climbing up into a niche near the ceiling, using an invisibility potion (yeah, I use a lot of those, I admit it, but they're just so useful!) and all of my stealth skill to not be detected. So, after giving it some thought as to how I'm supposed to take them all out, I finally decided on my favourite plan- Conjure something, in this case, a flame atronach, to distract and attack and take out as many as I can with a bow, while continually resummoning the flame atronach whenever it gets killed (which, with fourty bandits, happened fairly often.) I took out all of the people with bows and magic first, so that if nothing else there would be less people who could attack me if and when I was noticed.  
Of course, I was somewhat suprised when an arrow flew at me suddenly, just barely missing my head. I looking if the direction that it had come from, but, try as I might, I could not see anyone from the crowd who was looking at me. Another arrow whizzed towards me, and I jerked my head to the right, just barely managing to not lose an eye or an ear.  
That had definitely not come from the crowd. I aimed my gaze higher up towards the wall, but I still couldn't see anything for a moment, until a small movement caught my eye.   
Another arrow was comming towards me, but this time I knew that I didn't have to move, as the shot hadn't been quite strong enough to reach me. I knew now, however, where I was being shot at from. It had come from a nich much like my own in the wall, and I'm pretty sure that the person was the one that they had gotten to sneak past all of the draugr when even I couldn't. And obviously that person must have been using an invisibility potion.  
"Smart one, then, too bad I have to kill them." Were my exact thoughts. Then, I smirked as another arrow flew from the niche, hitting the wall above my hiding spot. They may have been better than me at sneaking, but I knew for certain that I was better with a bow than they were. I dipped to tip of the arrow into a potent poison, wanting to just kill the person before they realised that I knew where they were and moved or something.  
I notched my arrow carefully, not letting it show that I noticed then and was going to aim at them, and I waited. The second I saw another arrow appear seemingly out of thin air, I immediately brought my bow up and shot, my aim flawless, if I do say so myself, not letting them have time to duck back into their alcove. The arrow "THP!"ed into seemingly nothing for a moment, until a body appeared, face sporting a shocked expression, as it would until it rotted away, as the woman's face had an arrow going straight through one eye, and she was already dead. The body, anticlimactically, fell quietly out of the alcove and onto the ground below.  
I grinned in triumph and summoned the flame atronach once again, then, counting only fourteen left between my picking them off and my flame atronach, I decided to end this with a bang as I sheathed my bow and chose my two most powerful destructive spells, one ice and one electricity, and jumped into the fray.  
That was a very stupid move. You see, from up above, I didn't realise that the men who were still alive though bandit, were probably mercenaries at one point and maybe still are, or something like that. They were a lot tougher than I had anticipated, and while I probably could have handled six or seven of them by myself, even with my flame atronach, fourteen is a lot, and I definitely didn't bring enough health and magick potions.  
I didn't even bother to loot the bodies, I just limped harshly towards the door which I needed to open to leave, bleeding severely from several different places. My magick was mostly gone, and one of the men had had a poison or something on their blade that prevented my magick from regenerating, and I didn't know how long it would last. I had to use my actually body weight, rather than just my arms, to pull on the lever, and even that almost resulted in me falling over.   
I was in trouble, big time, and I knew it too. I couldn't stay down here because I would definitely bleed to death in my sleep if my magick did come back quickly enough, that is, if the remaining few draugrs down here didn't kill me first. Outside, sure, there was a higher chance that I would run into some creature that could kill me. Hell, a plain old wolf could probably do me in easily at this point in time, but being outside was the only chance I would have at someone finding me before I bled out. I basically had to crawl up the stairs on my hands and knees, and it was alarmingly difficult to stand back up afterwards. Each step got harder and harder, but after a lot of struggling, I made it to the door leading outside. I was so glad that this wasn't one of the nordic ruins where the entrance to the ruin was down in a hole and you had to climb stairs to get to the top, I think I would have given up right there if it had been.  
It knew that the closest road that was was directly in front of me, even if, at the time, it seemed miles away, and that my best bet was to get to that road or as close to it as I could.  
I trudged and stumbled my way forwards for as long as I could, but eventually it just became too difficult and I fell to my knees. I sat there a moment, collecting myself and breathing heavily, specifically not looking back because I knew that, even though it felt like I had walked for miles, I would be no more than fifty yards away from it, and nowhere close to that road. I tried to use a healing spell, just to see if the poison had worn off even a little. No such luck.  
I tried to get back up again and keep walking, truly I tried, and I did manage to do get back on my feet once, but I fell almost as soon as I did. I almost cried then, but I knew that it would do me no good. No matter how humiliating it was, whether or not anyone else saw it, I would actually have to crawl if I wanted to have even a chance of living to see tomorrow. And you know what? I may be a companion, but I'm also a theif and the arch-mage at the college of Winterhold. My pride and dignity may be important to me, but when they're pitted against my being alive in general, you know what, pride and dignity can suck it.  
So, I crawled. I don't know how long or how far I crawled. I don't know if I even got more than ten feet from where I had been, I just remember almost blindly pushing my way through the grass, wondering if I was suddenly going to be pounced on my a sabre cat or something else stupid like that. I remember that my knees and arms gave out of me several times and I fell flat on my face, and every single time that happened I lost a little bit more of the already miniscule amount of hope I had left and every time I laid there just a little bit longer, contemplating giving up.   
Then, for the last time, I fell, almost immediately after getting up from another fall. I didn't even try to get up, I just laid their. I'm pretty sure that my thought went something like this- "Screw it, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be laying down and relaxing, not fighting a pointless, losing battle. Nuh uh, not gonna happen. If death is gonna take me, then I'm at least gonna be relaxing when it shows up." Or something similar to that. I also remember that it was the kind of night that, had I not been almost dying, I probably would have laid down on the grass for a while and watched the stars, because the sky was clear and the stars were perfectly visible from here, and the breeze was slightly warm but not too warm. It would have been one of my favourite nights.  
Except I was dying.  
And that was all I remembered before I passed out..


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing I had noticed when I awoke was that my head was foggy. Not quite the "Oh crap, I got drugged last night, am I pregnant now?" foggy, more of the "I must have lost a lot of blood, because I still feel a little off from that and I have that full body tingling feeling that you get when you've had a lot of healing spells cast on you" sort of thing, though there was also something else that felt off but I couldn't figure out what it was, so I just decided to ignore it for the time being. At that particular moment, I didn't remember what had happened to me the night before, and honestly I could feel that my body was not totally healed from whatever it was that happened, since there's only so much healing energy a body can take at one time before it starts to bcome harmful, which is why healers heal people over time, rather than just sending six or seven healing spells at them at once, then telling whoever it was to get out. Besides, this bed was comfortable, as far as beds go, so I'm just going to lay here a bit longer.  
I felt, however, that I had been sleeping for quite some time though, as while my body was content to just lay there, my mind was too restless to just relax and not think, and, for lack of anything better to contemplate, my restless mind traveled back to what, exactly, had put me in this obviously weakened state. I remembered getting the assignment from Farkas, how it was just supposed to be a short, easy mission, perfect for a "new-blood", since I was still considered one.  
All I was supposed to need to do was track down a small group of bandits and kill them, but, well, obviously there were a lot more of them than we had thought. I breathed in deeply as it slowly started to come back to me, my memories slowly pouring into my mind at about the same speed that chilled molasses would.   
The bandits had gone into ancient nordic ruins, and they had used someone with nearly perfect stealth skills, better than anyone I knew, to let them get to the treasure without having to fight through the hoard of undead in the ruins. Sadly, I am no where near matched with their stealth agent, so I ended up fighting about twenty or so draugr. Then, to top off that wonderfulness, I found out that the "small clan of bandits" had actually been a large hunting party, or something like that, for a very large clan of bandits. There were about fourty or so of them in there, and I ended up repeatedly summoning a flame atronach to distract and do some damage to their group while I slowly picked them off from above with my arrows.   
After an mini-duel with their stealth agent, which I won (while I may not be as good at sneaking, there are very few people who stand a chance against me with a bow in my hand), I looked down and saw that there were only thirteen or fourteen men left. That was when I made my mistake.   
I got cocky, I didn't take into account that they were clearly far more skilled then simple bandits- I'm thinking they they were at one point or even still are, professional mercenaries. As it was, I overestimated myself and underestimated them. I did manage to defeat them all, but at a heavy price- I had several critical wound scattered around my body, I was out of health and magicka potions, and one of the men had poisoned their weapon with a long acting posion that blocked my magicka regeneration. In essence, I had messed up big time when I jumped down from my perfectly safe ledge and tried to take them on myself.  
I had, quite literally, crawled away from the ruins, barely alive and my only hope of surviving was if I somehow managed to make it back to the road, or, by some one in a million chance, someone happened to find me out there before I lost too much blood and died. I couldn't remember when and where I actually passed out, but I did know one thing- I had definitely not managed to to make it back to the road.  
That thought gave me pause- Honestly, what was the chance that anyone would ever find me out there, especially when it was dark as pitch, barring the small amount of light provided by the stars, especially since I had been face-down and everything but my face was covered in dark clothing and armour and the side of my (exceptionally pale usually, and at the time probably almost pure white) face that would have been visible when laying face-down was probably mostly covered by my jet-black, excessively long hair... And even though my body would have been clearly visible in the sunlight, theres no way I could have remained alive for that long without healing, so someone had to have found me pretty soon (probably within minutes) after I fell unconcious for me to still be alive.  
And, for my body to not be in severe pain, I was probably out for at least a day or two, unless for some reason I just can't feel the places that should be in pain, or those injured part just aren't there anymore... Is it paranoid to take inventory or your own body? Because I'm feeling very paranoid right now, and I have this uncontrollable urge to just move a little bit- you know, check and make sure that my leg wasn't amputated and sold in the black market (get your Dragonborn limb here people, only 1395 gold!), or that I'm not drugged up majorly or something (though if I was jacked on something, that would definitely explain why I haven't felt even mild discomfort yet when, after such a painful close call, I should at least be wincing.  
I didn't move very much, just shifted slightly in the bed. Yep, I could definitely feel my legs, as I just realised that one of them had been asleep and was now getting that stupid antsy feeling that limbs get when they "Wake Up", and they seemed to be in pretty good condition too, as far as things go. Arms are fine as far as I can tell, I can flex my finger and shift my arms, and everything else seemed to be where if was supposed to be as well.   
Now that I've begun moving, though, I've begun to feel all of my new wounds- quite a few of which will definitely become scars when they finally heal. Though they do ache, it doesn't really hurt and can be easily ignored, which really should not be the case for such serious wounds being inflicted last night. I really should be in a lot more pain than this.  
I guess it could be a spell or potion that dulls the nerves, but then, no it can't be that. Those spells, while useful, don't just do the designated area, they do the whole body, which sort of has the effect of making you feel like you've got an impenetrable layer of cotton between you and everything else, including injuries and I could feel the blanket gently shifting across my naked ladybits when I moved perfectly well, so that wasn't it....   
...Wait...  
My eyes shot open, and the ceiling swam around in my sight for a few seconds before solidifying, and I recognized that that was not the room of temple or anywhere else that there might be healers, though I wasn't exactly surprised. Being the Dragonborn, a Companion, part of the thieves guild, the arch-mage of the College of Winterhold and apparently just the general "go-to" person if you need some miscellaneous quest done, I had been to the healer fairly often. In fact, I would honestly say that I probably spend at least one night in a temple or other place of healing once a week or more because of the troublesome situations that I always seem to get into, so I would think that that would make me a pretty good authority on what healers do and don't do with patients, and one thing that I'm almost one hundred percent sure is that healers don't leave their patients naked. Never. Yeah, they take off their clothes to change them into these annoying robes that apparently make it easier to treat people, or something like that, but they never, ever, just leave someone naked, covered by a sheet or not. Never. And you know what? Wherever I am, I'm probably screwed. Literally, or possibly figuratively.  
"Sleep well?" My paranoid, awkward mental ramblings were cut off by a deep, sexy but unfamiliar alto voice coming from somewhere to the left of my bed, causing me to shoot upwards in bed at the sound.  
"Easy." The voice commanded sharply, but then, with more amusement in her tone, continued "After all, you would want to break open any of your wound and undo all of the hard work of I've done on you over the past five days, now would you?" Sitting casually in the corner of the room (a shack, I could now see) and on top of a cabinet was a woman.  
I couldn't tell much about her. In fact I could tell you next to nothing about her physical appearance, except that she was well toned and had a very nice body, and she was wearing a black and red leather suit that could have (and probably did) easily hid not just one or two, but several weapons, especially daggers.  
"Who are you?" I blurted out, unable to stop myself, "What am I doing here? I've been out five days? Where are we anyway."  
"Does it matter?" She smoothly interupted me, "Your warm, dry, mostly healed and very much alive. That's more than can be said for Old Grellod, hmm?"   
A shiver ran down my spine, and I honestly didn't know what caused it. It was either her voice, which, despite the situation, was undeniably the sexiest thing ever (I was pretty sure that my ears had an orgasm every time she spoke), or it was because when she mentioned the old shrew, it finally clicked. She's an Assassin. From the Dark Brotherhood. Who's probably pissed off at me for stealing a kill. And I was still weak from the incident in the ruins, I was absolutely defensless, except, perhaps for my magicka MAYBE, and I didn't know if that was working now or not.  
Fuck everything.  
"You... know about that?" Well, you know, if I'm already screwed to hell, I may as well confirm it, if nothing else.  
"You know that I do. You got our little message, after all. Remember, using an invisibility potion not to get caught might have been clever enough to keep the knowledge from most of Skyrim, but we are the Dark Brotherhood and very little gets passed us." I could practically hear the smirk in her voice as she nearly purred the next part. "Oh, but don't misunderstand, I'm not criticizing, it was a good kill, planned before hand with definite means of escape and a very sure way to not get caught? Very good for a first-time murder with no professional guidance. Plus, the old crone simply had it coming and you saved a group of urchins in the process."  
I honestly couldn't believe it. Was this dark brotherhood assassin really praising me, of all people, about a murder I committed when I had stolen the opportunity to do so from them?? There's going to be a catch to this, somewhere, it's too good to be true. This is the dark brotherhood, for crying out loud, and I seriously doubt that they're just going to forgive me for that.  
"But," The dangerously sexy voice of the assassin continued "There is a slight... problem." Yup, here it is. They're about to kill me as payment for stealing a soul that should have gone to Sithis in the Void. Oh well, with the way my So-Many-Greats grandmother talked about Sithis and serving him in the void when she died, ect, it can't be that bad, right?  
"So what exactly is the problem?" I asked as I continued to just sit ther in the bed, for lack of anything more intelligent to ask or more productive to do.  
"You see, that little Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood. For me, and my associates. Grellod the Kind was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract. A kill that you stole. A kill you must repay." Yup, here it comes. She's about to tell me that my soul is going to be sent to the void by her as payment for Grellod the Kind. Though, I do wonder why she bothered to, for all intents and purposes, nurse me back to health, rather than just delivering the final wound that ended my life when I was unconcious. Maybe the person needs to be in good health for it too work? Whatever...  
"Are you going to kill me and send me to the void in her place?" I asked. She laughed, low and sultry, in a way that made me shiver ever so slightly and I could feel my skin heat up ever so slightly. How the hell does this woman, whom I've never met before and who is probably about to kill me, have such an effect on me with nothing more than her voice?  
I was rather surprised at her reply to my question.  
"No, of course not. That would be such a waste." I could feel my eyebrows raise on their own and I waited for her to continue. I took me a few seconds of her doing nothing more than eyeing me and genlty rocking her leg, which was hanging over the side of the cabinet, back and forth for me to realise that she was waiting for me to ask what she meant. I finally submitted to her will after a few more seconds.  
"What, exactly, would you have me do instead." Even though I could see nothing of her face, I could feel her triumphant smirk.  
"Well now, funny you should ask. If you look behind you, you'll notice my guests. I've collected them from... Well, that's not really important. The here and now, that's what matters." Sure enough, when I look behind me, I could see, on the other side of the little shack, were three people, all chained into place with hoods over their faces. two of them were still stuggling to get out of the chains, so they probably hadn't been there for long. I turned back to the Assassin as she continued speaking, her voice staying low and deep.  
"You see, there's a contract out on one of them, and that person cannot leave this room alive. But," She sighed for effect, as if there was something she didn't know, but had to figure out, "Which one is it? Hmm... How about you see if you can figure it out. Go on, make your choice, make your kill, I just want to observe... And admire..." With her ending tone of voice, it sounded more like she was observing an alchemist make a potion, rather than watching someone decide who, out of three people, should die. I blinked at her for a minute, then looked back at her again, before making my choice (not that it was that hard, seeing as my concience, while it can't stand innocents in pain, is perfectly fine with murder, as long as the target deserved it for some reason).  
"All right, I'll do it. I'll kill one of them." I replied cordially.  
"See, I knew that we could resolve this civilly. A debt owed must be repayed, and you understand that." She seemed pleased. "Well, get to it then! Pick your guest and then send the poor fool to the Void. Then, I'll give you a key to this shack and you'll be on your way." She made a small gesture the table next to the bed. "You can use that dagger on the table there." I felt like she was smirking, and for a moment, I wondered why, until I actually reached out and picked up the dagger. True, it was pretty plain dagger, made of iron, sharp enough to use in this situation but not ideal for any real fighting, and there were no destinguishing marking or symbols on it, but... It was just familiar enough, and I felt very sure that this was the dagger that I had left with Aventus. Well that's interesting, but I'll use it now and maybe ask questions later, for now, I'm just gonna go ahead and get this over with. When I moved to get up however, I realised something very important.  
I was still naked. And just as important, I really hadn't been paying attention to that fact since I woke up, so, for pretty much our whole conversation I had been sitting there talking to her with the blankets pooled around my waist, leaving my chest and stomach fully exposed, barring the bandages wrapped around my lower torso.  
I know for a fact that the "EEP!" I let out as I suddenly pulled the sheet up to hide my chest was very girly sounding, and my face, which had suddenly become about as red as a tomato, got even darker, somehow, as she chuckled in amusement at my behavior.  
"Umm... Can I please have my clothes?" I asked as my face remained the hottest that I remember it ever being.  
"Mm, most of your outfit was unsalvageable after your little row with those bandits. Even your small clothes could barely serve their purpose. I'll let you have your equipment back later, and, if all goes as planned, I certainly think that I'll also have an outfit for you after you finish your kill. Just go ahead and interview our guests and chose your victim, they all have hoods on and can't see a thing. Don't worry about me, I certainly won't mind the view." Oh my god... That really shouldn't seem so hot to me, and if this had been literally anyone but her, I honestly don't think it would have been, but it was. God, I'm so screwed up, letting myself be controlled so completely by the voice alone of this woman, even if it is an incredibly sexy voice. I really am a sucker for a nice voice...  
Still, even if I was obviously infatuated with her already, and even though it was obvious that she had seen me naked in these last, I think she said, five days that I've been unconcious, I wasn't seriously going to just walk around totally naked in front of a complete stranger, who was also an assassin.  
So, I just decided to go for the most obvious, easiest, and, I think, only option, and I pulled the sheet off of the bed to use, though I left the much thicker fur blanket on the bed. It was a bit of a challenge, wrapping the sheet around me, while not flashing anything and while trying to get up on legs that, I suddenly realised, were rather weak from being injured and then not being used for about five days. Needless to say, I was more than slightly embarrassed at the awkwardness of that move and how much I swayed on my annoyingly shaky legs before I finally gained my balance. I could practically feel her eyebrow raising and her lips twitching into an amused smirk, I just knew that that was what expression would be on her still-unknown face if I could see through her hood.  
I would not, however, give her the satisfaction of having me look at her again after I steadied myself, and, without much further ado, my little interogation began. I knew who I would kill almost immediately.   
The woman was a mother, and, though brash and disrespectful she may be, she didn't seem to be abusive or neglectful, like my father or the old hag at the orphanage. Besides, I liked her spunk. She would leave this shack alive.  
The nord warrior to the right was a coward, I knew that as soon as I got close. He heard my unsteady footsteps nearing him, and immediately started begging. I was extremely annoying, and it almost angered me, that he dared to call himself brave when, in the face of death, he snivelled like a baby. However, that, in my mind, was not reason enough to kill him right off of the back. He might not be killed, depending on the attittude of the third prisoner.  
The khajiit warrior may as well have grabbed my hand and forced me to stab him. He honestly thought that threatening me was the way to get on my good side? Not really. Everyword that came out of his foul mouth just served to anger me even more, particularly the defiler of daughters comment. Yeah, he's the one I'm gonna pick, and if he's the wrong one, well, he still deserves to die and I won't regret killing him in the least. I slashed his throat smoothly and easily, almost enjoying the cry he let out as he died, and the screams of fear and anger the nord warrior and the mother let out respectively were amusing.  
"The cunniving Khajiit. A cat like that was sure to have enemies, it's no wonder you chose him." The assassin calmly told me in her incredibly sensual voice, but didn't say whether or not he was the actual target.  
"Well, was it him? Was the Khajiit the mark?" I asked eagerly, hoping that I had been correct. Hey, if you can't be honest with yourself, who can you be honest to? And the honest truth was that, despite the fact that she had kidnapped me and forced me to kill someone (not that I was really putting up a fight over it) I was definitely attracted to her (I don't do things slowly or over time, with me, changes are rarely subtle) not to mention that she had saved my life, so I was just a bit eager to impress, if I could.  
"Oh no no no, don't you understand?." Did I miss something? Probably, I'm not really in my normal state of mind right now, "Guilt, innocence, right, wrong? Irrelevant. What matters, at this point is that I ordered you to kill someone and you obeyed." The tone of the last sentence probably would have been the same if she had been praising a child who had done something very well.  
"So... Does that mean I'm free to go?" I asked awkwardly.   
"Of course, and your debt has been payed in full. Here," She tossed me a key, which I caught in one hand while keeping the sheet wrapped around my body. "This key opens the door to the shack and that chest," She gesture to the trunk next to the cabinet that I hadn't noticed earlier. "You'll find all of your equipment, money, etcetera, along with some clothes that should suffice until you can get to a city to get some new armour. I've even also taken the liberty of putting the antidote to that poison the sapped your magicka in your potions pouch." My eyes widened at the unexpected generosity and the confirmation that, yes, my magicka was still blocked.  
I kneeled next to the chest and easily opened it with key. Inside, just as she said, was all my equipment- My daedric bow and dagger, my crap-ton of arrows, my potions pouch, which I knew held the cure for the stupid poison, along with my epic amount of invisibility potions and all of the useless stamina potions, all of my ingredients, my pack, ect, as well as a practical but plain outfit- Simple leather armour, along with new smallclothes.  
"But why stop here?" She suddenly spoke up, and my head snapped up momentarily towards her, before looking back down, "I say we take our relationship to the next level." I felt the look of surprise slide onto my face momentarily at her choice of words before I forced the my face into a more nuetral expession, and she continued, "I would like to Officially extend an invitation to you to join my family- The Dark Brotherhood." This time, the expession of shock fell onto my face and wouldn't come off as I stood up straight in my surprise. I hadn't expected this. I probably should have, after her little "test" and her praise of how I killed Grellod, but it still hadn't occured to me for a single moment, thus I was taken my surprise.  
"In the Southwest reaches of Skyrim, in the pine forest, you'll find the enterance to our Sanctuary, it's just beneath the road, hidden from view of travellers. When questioned by the Black Door, answer with the correct passphrase, "Silence, my Brother". Then, you're in, and your new life begins."  
As soon as she finished her speach, she hopped off of the cabinet, landing lightly and easily on her feet, causing me to take a step back due to her close proximity. She calmly walked towards the door of the shack and paused with her hand on the doorknob, turning around to look at me for the final time.   
"I hope to see you there soon." And with those final words, the door opened and closed and she was gone, leaving me in the shack with the two struggling prisonners. I stood there a moment, contemplating her words, before I finally turned back to the chest, letting the sheet drop to the floor now, since no one in the room could see me, and hastily began to get dressed and equip, put away all of my possessions. I had just been asked to join the Dark Brotherhood. I jerked in surprise as it really sunk in, and in the back of my mind, I was glad that I hadn't decided to drink the potion to fix my magick right now, as I definitely would have choked and spilt it. I had really been asked to join the Dark Brotherhood.   
It was so amazing that I didn't even need time to decide, I already knew that I was definitely going to do it.  
I quickly prepared to leave the shack, knowing that I could handle myself until I got to a city or town, despite my still slightly weakened and injured state, and I chugged the potion, a blue potion in a small vial, labeled simply "Antidote" In small, elegant handwriting that definitely wasn't mine, and felt the instantaneous effect- my magicka began to regenerate nearly as soon as the potion passed my lips.  
I turned around, having all of my possession in order, and I was very ready to leave and begin my journey until, suddenly, I realised that the other two prisoners were still here. I contemplated just leaving them there so that I didn't have to deal with them, but I knew that I would feel guilty for leaving the mother, at least, to slowly starve to death, especially with the still-grovelling nordic coward.  
Sighing and resigning myself to my face, I walked to them and asked the woman, ignoring the nord, "What city are you from?" Her reply was filled with some curses and a lot of attittude, but I managed to gather that she lived in Dawnstar from it. Then, I turned to the Nord and told him exactly what he was to do.  
"Alright listen," I hissed and saw him tense up even more, though he finally stopped his begging and grovelling to hear what I have to say, "You may be a coward, but you are a mercenary, so here's how this is going to happen. You are going to escort this woman safely back to Dawnstar. In a few days, I'm going to go there, and if she's not there safe and sound, then I will hunt you down and kill you slowly. Do you understand me, nord?" I growled threateningly.  
"Yes, yes, of course! Bring her to Dawnstar and keep her safe! What would you have me do afterwards." He asked in a trembling voice.  
"I don't care what you do afterwards, but know this- If I get to Dawnstar in a weeks time and she's not there or if she's been injured, don't think I can't find you just as easily as I did before." Well, there's no way for him to know that I wasn't the one to kidnap him, and if my lying will keep six children cared for then I'm fine with it.  
"Yes, yes, I'll do whatever you say, please just don't kill me!" He confirmed as soon as I was finished speaking.  
"Good." I allowed. "Now, I'm going to cut the rope on your wrist. When I do, I want you to start counting, slowly. I'm going to leave and you aren't going to do anything but count until you reach one hundred. When you do, the you can move and take off your hood and the rest of your bindings and release her as well. I'll be long gone by then. Take her straight back to Dawnstar from here once you're finished. Do you understand?"   
"Yes, I understand. Count to one hundred then release the woman and take her back to Dawnstar." Close enough, I just want to get out of here. Without another word, I sliced just as easily through ropes on his wrist with my daedric dagger as if they were made of butter.   
He stayed still and as soon as he felt the ropes on his wrist go slack, he stayed where he was, but his voice, with it's heavy Nordic accent, called out, "1... 2... 3..." I was satisfied that he would obey, and turned and left the shack.  
Then I realised that I had no idea where I was, except that, judging by the weather, it was probably in the northeast. Fuck everything.  
Well, judging by the position of the sun, I was facing South. Well, she did say that the Sanctuary was to the southeast...  
So, angling myself forward and slightly to the right, I set off on my merry way, aiming to be out of sight before the two inside left the shack.  
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Two days later I walked into Whiterun, which was the first stop I had made since I left the shack, besides when I stopped somewhere to sleep. I decided to go to Jorrvaskr to collect my pay for that mission, and possibly to bitch at someone about the assignment.  
I was in for a surprise when I got there.   
Kodlack greated me as soon as I walked in. "Dragon! Your alright! Good! Where are Aela, Farkas and Ria?" To say that I was a bit confused would be a slight understatement.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why should I know where they are, I wasn't on a quest with them." Kodlack's brow furrowed in thought.  
"I... Dragon, after the second day when you hadn't come back, Farkas began to worry, so Aela went to follow your tracks. When she came back, she said that there had been a lot more bandits than we had thought, and that, even though you did kill them all, you had been injured. There was, apparently, a trail of blood leading away from the ruins, which stopped at one point, where the amount of blood was the greatest, but your body was gone. Not like you had stopped bleeding or walked away, but like you had been picked up, probably by someone on a horse. We... Vilkas had the idea that, perhaps, since the Silver Hand knows that you're a companion, maybe they captured you in your weakened state. They been scouring the surrounding area trying to find you, where ever you had been taken. Where have you been, exactly?" Wow, this can't be good. Well, I'm glad that I had thought up something vague enough not to be a lie before hand (I swear to the Divine, werewolves can smell lies).  
"There was an old debt I needed to pay, and the person I owed came and picked me up. They took care of me until I came to, and then I did the task that they had been looking for me to do, so I don't owe them anymore."  
"Hmm..." Kodlack gaze narrowed ever-so-slightly, and I almost worried that he was going to press me for information, but finally, he shook his head and said, "Well, the important thing is that you're okay, Aela was very worried by the amount of blood that you had lost, and she'll be happy to know that you are well. They'll come back from their searching for their evening meal soon, so why don't you just have dinner with your sheild-siblings tonight, to put their minds at ease before you go out on the road again." How the man always knew when I was going to leave, I'll never know, but I got his point and agreed. It was too close to the evening mealtime for me to go search them out in the wilderness randomly, but there was enough time for me to do do anything I needed to do in Whiterun before they returned, so I headed into the town to run any errands I needed to do before I left.  
FFwontletmeuseapagebreaklineFFwontletmeuseapagebreaklineFFwontletmeuseapagebreakline  
Dinner had been a tense affair. Though they had been relieved to see that I was okay, I could tell that they felt awkward about the whole thing. They had, after all, just spent a good few days trying to find me themselves, and then I just showed up at Jorrvaskr out of the blue after having been taken good care of for all of the time that they were (secretly, since they're Companions and don't do "carring") worrying for me.  
Almost directly after it ended, I had my things already pack and I was ready to hit the road- there was still a few hours of daylight left, so I had decided not to spend the night in Whiterun. After assuring my friends in the Companions and my Housecarl that I was fine and would be fine, I was on the road again.  
Dark Brotherhood, here I come!


	3. Chapter 3

OG AN: O.o ... Wow, just... Wow. Yeah, I definitely did not plan on that turning out like that... Basically, I saw that coming about as much as you guys did... Oh well. Now, I just have to figure out how to do the conclusion, since this completely throws out the plans that I did have. Clearly, it's not gonna be a feel-good-happy-ending sorta conclusion, if it's not downright depressing, horrifying or awful in some way. I'll sleep on it.  
2017 Update: OH YEAH XD I forgot that this was about when I was discovering how much I liked kinky shit and unconventional relationship and power dynamics XD Ah, the work of a confused 15 year old.

"What... Is the music... Of life?" A raspy voice asked me slowly, and would have startled me, had I not been expecting something of the sort.  
"Silence, my brother." I spoke back, and for a moment, I worried that, perhaps, I had somehow misheard the Assassin (whose name, I realised while on my way here, I still did not know), or perhaps she had just been toying with me, taunting me. It would seem, however, that my fears were in vain.  
"Welcome... Home..." The same raspy, ancient voice replied, and large door with the skull carved into it slowly cracked open enough for me to pull it the rest of the way open. Freezing air flooded out of the foreboding entryway and washed over my body, replacing the slightly over-heated sensation that I had been experiencing for nearly since I had left Falkenreath- I think this may be the only area in Skyrim where it can, at it's highest temperature, nearly cook meat without any fire being necessary. Luckily, today was not nearly at it's highest, but after getting used to the normally below freezing climate of the rest of Skyrim, even the lowest temperature in this heated area felt uncomfortable.  
I stepped hesitantly into the pleasantly cool passageway. I'm honestly pretty glad that no one had a view of me from where I was, because, when the door slammed closed behind me after I had stepped forward enough for me to do so, I jumped and let out an embarrassingly high-pitched, though soft, shriek of surprise that I really hoped no one heard.  
I really need to stop being so jumpy all of the freaking time.  
The whole passageway that I was standing in looked to be carved out of the stones that it was hidden under, and, as I walked down the cold, slightly steep stone steps, I suddenly realised that I had, literally, just walked into the den of murderers with barely a thought to this being, somehow, a trick of some sort- though why they would need to trick me into coming to them when they could have easily ended my life when I was unconcious after the legend-worthy battle between the draugrs, bandits and I, I had no idea. Well, too late to go back now, either way.  
The small passage ended and turned into a larger room. There was a book case immediately in fron tof me. On my left there was another room, and I could tell by what I could see through the partially open door that it was a bedroom of some sort. As far as I could tell, the room was currently empty of whoever lived in it, but then, I could only see part of the room from this angle, so for all that I know, there could be twenty people in there waiting to ambush anyone who was stupid enough to go in there.  
Next to the room was a large stone table. On it was a map, as well as a few place markers. As I stepped closer, curiously, I could tell that the map was definitely the most detailed map of Skyrim that I had ever come across, which said something compared to all of the map that I've seen in my many months here since I escaped Helgen. I was almost tempted to pull out my own rather detailed map (I had every notable location that I had been to since coming to Skyrim on it, and several locations marked for further investigation, so it was a pretty well marked map as it was) and copy a few of the locations on there to check out later, but then decided against it (for now).  
I had no more time to admire the expansive map, though, as a familiar voice that had been the topic of most of my thoughts spoke. "You came."  
I whirled to the right to face the owner of the voice, and nearly jumped back as I noticed that she was only a few feet away from where I was standing by the map table, looking at me with a very pleased expression not unlike a cat who just got the cream.  
"Of course." I mumbled offhandedly, taking in her looks- I don't know how I expected her to look, but regardless, I wasn't disappointed.  
She was obviously of Nordic decent, from the way her face and features were shaped and arranged and from her body structure, now that I actually though about it. She had a round face. Her eyes were a deep brown, almost black, and very sweet looking, and her lips were smooth, plump and lightly pink. Her hair, which was a darker shade of strawberry blonde, went about to her lower shoulders and was held out of her face by two braids, which more than likely connected in the back in a common style in Skyrim. She was sort of short as far as Nordic women went, but since I'm short as far as elves go... Well, she's still taller than me by a good few inches. Damn, I'm short.  
"Good, I was almost worried that you wouldn't take me up on my offer." Her pleased smirk turned into an actual smile.  
"I am Astrid, and I run this branch of the Dark Brotherhood here in Skyrim. Every family member in this branch answers to me above anyone else- And that, my dear sister, includes you now. Welcome to the family."   
"I'm.... I'm honored to be part of your family, Astrid." The name flowed smoothly and pleasantly off of my tongue, even as I remained slightly awed by the prospect of being a member of the Dark Brotherhood. I had always though that that would be really cool, since the first time I read my so-many-greats grandmother's journal, but, honestly, it wasn't something that I had ever thought would really happen. Somehow, though, it did. Honestly, I'm more than a little starstruck right now.  
"Our family, dear sister, our family now." Astrid corrected in a tone that reminded me a great deal of silk, a product that is rather uncommon in Skyrim due to the fact that, while it is very strong and beautiful, offers little protection against the mostly frigid climate of the country.  
"Of course." I offered a smile and ducked my head slightly in embarrassment. God, why the hell am I acting like this? I know that I'm pretty young as far as things go, you know, being 17 and all, but serious, you'd think that after killing dragons, stealing their souls, learning Thu'ums, joining the thieves guild, becoming archmage of the college of Winterhold, being a companion, dealing with an excessive amount f Daedric princes, and the endless amount of other shit that I've done, nothing could really phase me anymore, but no. It's the voice, I tell you, I swear to the Divine and every Daedric Prince in existence that if her voice wasn't that utterly sexy, I wouldn't be half ready to jump her right now. Man, and nothing she's said had been particularly provocative... Yeah, I'm too far gone for this to be normal. Whatever, I've never once claimed to be normal in any way, may as well embrace my strangeness.  
"So, do you have something for me to do now?" I asked after a moment, half seriously asking that question, half just to keep her speaking right now.  
"Not currently. Later, go speak to Nazir, he should have some work for you to do now, but first, I want you to go and meet your new family." She smiled encouragingly at me, but then her expression turned momentarily darker, and the last part was partially mumbled to herself, "They should embrace you with well opened arms." I wondered vaguely at that last part. should I take that to mean that some had not exactly been happy about my new recruitment? Hn... probably.  
"Alright. Thank you Astrid." I smiled at her, she smiled back, then I headed past her to "meet my new family", boldly (sort of but not really, especially compared to how I normally am with women) brushing against her somewhat as we passed in the narrow walkway. Though honestly, I'm pretty sure she intended to do the same thing, and her smirk widened by a good bit as it happened, so I'm thinking it was a good move on my part.  
Scene change, after the three contracts for Nazir are completed  
I came back to the Sanctuary about a week and a half after I had left- It took me a while to get to the locations of all of the targets, and get them alone, in some cases, and I'm not gonna lie, I also did some other stuff too while I was out too- Planted a stolen ring and forged some business ledgers, so I would have to collect the pay for those next time I happened to be in Riften, and found Toldfir's Alembic when I went to make sure all was in order at the College since I was already in the area. Things like that, you know.  
There was a lot more noise- several voices speaking at the same time some more loudly than others- than the first time I had been here. I debated with myself-only for a second or two- about whether or not it would be a good idea to go down there before deciding that my damnable curiosity would not allow me to leave without knowing what was going on.  
As I made my way down the small set of steps, through the first chamber with that exquisite map and down another walkway towards what I considered the "main room"- My sensitive elven ears easily began to make out voices-not words, just voices. Astrid's, of course, was the first voice I recognized. Very soon after her, when I was about next to the map in the first room, my ears picked up on a high pitched, eccentric sounding voice, and it took me a moment, but soon I recognized it, and I stopped my descent for a moment.  
It was that "Jester" that I had met on the road near that farm. I think his name was Cicero, but I could be wrong. He had been, supposedly, transporting his "Mother" to a new crypt in Skyrim from Cyrodill, but his wagon had broken a wheel by the house of some farmer. I, being in a rather charitable mood that day, had decided to convince that farmer to assist the almost definitely insane man- it truly hadn't been hard, just a few well placed words on Nordic Hospitality and he agreed (I have quite the silver tongue, if you haven't realised). The Jester payed me rather handsomely for my help and I left, and hadn't seen any hint of him since then (it would have been about a month and a half ago, it wasn't too long before I heard the first rumours of Aventus Aretino.  
So, the real question is, why exactly is he here? (I won't deny, though, that some part of me is both unsurprise and slightly triumphant that it appears to be correct in it's statement of "I bet he's a murderer" We'll see, voice in my head, we'll see.  
The words of the voices becoming louder and more clear came was slightly startling as I realised that I had actually unconciously began walking down the short, narrow path while I ramble to some stupid voice inside my head. Man, I've got problems.  
"Of course Cicero, we will welcome you to our sanctuary, and we will award you the respect that your position entitles. But make no mistake, I am the leader of this sanctuary and what I say around here goes. Are we clear?" Astrid's voice threatened the Jester, calmly and firmly, leaving no room for arguement.  
"Of course, of course, Mistress, you are the boss! Cicero is happy to serve under you, and Cicero is sure that the Night Mother is pleased to be here as well!" The eccentric, high pitched voice of Cicero agreed hastily to that just as the actual people came into sight. I saw Astrid first, of course, since she was closest to the door, who didn't glance at me when I came down, though I doubt that it was because she didn't know that I was there. She was a bit too busy staring the male imperial down. Cicero, for his part, seemed completely at ease and not at all intimidated by the nordic woman, as he promptly turned to me when I came into view and gasped rather theatrically.  
"You!" He nearly shouted, "You are the one from the farm! You helped poor Cicero when his wheel broke! You convinced the nice farmer to help poor Cicero! Cicero never forgets a face, especially a pretty one like yours, especially one that has offered assistance!" The man bounced up and down on the ball of his foot as he spoke, very much in the same manner that a young child was, and I specifically had to focus on not raising my eyebrow at that.  
"Yeah, and you're the guy who was transporting his "mother" to her new crypt." I threw back. The man- who I was almost beginning to think might just be an overgrow child, began hopping from foot to fit in a way that was very reminiscent of a small boy who had to "go", and replied excitedly, "You are a Dark Sister, are you not? Then that make her not only Cicero's mother but yours as well, for I, Cicero, have the undeserved honor of being the Keeper of our most unholy Matron, the Night Mother herself!" The ending was enhanced with a very dramatic arm sweep towards the large brown box that I recognized as the one from his wagon.  
"Wait, so... the Night Mother... Is in there?" I looked for confirmation from the Jester.   
"Yes, the Night Mother lies in her Crypt! Cicero is the Night Mother's Keeper, he washes her, preserves her body, cleans and upkeeps her crypt- well, until it was destroyed by those accursed Bravilian fools, thinking that they can do something so vile as to disrupt the Night Mother's very own crypt! But worry not, my sister, worry not," The jester's face slowly turned murderous as he spoke more, his voice getting softer and softer but also darker and darker, "Cicero took care of the, oh yes, he certainly took care of those fools.... Oh, how Cicero still delights at the screams they made, but no, Cicero did not relent,Cicero will never, ever let anyone get away with DISTURBING THE NIGHT MOTHER'S PEACE!" I kind of felt stupid when I jumped as he suddenly screamed the last part, especially since I was in a room of assassin's, most of whom didn't even bat an eyelash at the exclamation. I could see Arnbjorn snickering to himself, at my reaction without a doubt- He hadn't liked me from the beginning, I honestly have no idea why, I was nothing but civil when I introduced myself, but whatever it is, it still pisses me off. I shot him my most murderous, slow-painful-death promising glare at him, but his only reaction was to roll his eyes and smirk to himself. I promptly ignored him as soon as Astrid began to speak.  
"Well then, Cicero, we are glad that you and the Night Mother have both arrived relatively unharmed. For now, we'll leave her where she is while a room is prepared. You may go have a meal in the dining room if you wish, or you can simply roam, but please stay inside the Sanctuary for now, I assume that you'll want to oversee te transport of our Matron's coffin."  
"Yes, mistress, Cicero definitely wants to be there, who knows what could happen to the Night Mother's body is Cicero were not there to advise of the careful handling of her precious corpse!" The Jester jumped eagerly at the chance.  
"Good, I'll see you in a moment, for now I need to speak to our newest sister." All eyes in the room turned towards me, but the only set I could really focus on were Astrid's. They were just as I remembered them, yet somehow theywere different. They were still beautiful, but now I noticed a deadliness within them that was not there before, or perhaps I simply had not seen before. All I can say now is that the new shiver that trailed down my spine was not fully from lust or attractions as before...  
She stared at me for a moment before she turned and brushed past me without another word, and though it took me a second longer than it should have, I realised that I was meant to follow her. So, I did, I followed her and trusted her, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately. Perhaps I will at some point regret it.  
Rather than just stopping at the first chamber where the map was held, she walked straight past the map table and through the doorway leading into that room (which I'm still convinced is a bedroom, probably Astrid's, since she is our leader and all) that I had noticed on the first day here. Again, I followd without hesitation.  
I'm really not the sharpest knife in the drawerm am I? I mean, sexy as hell though she may be, she is an assassin, the leader of a Sanctuary, for goodness sake.  
A small gasp managed to escape my lips as the door was slammed behind me as soon as I was clear of it, which was quickly followed by all of the rest of the air in my body and I was slammed against said door, my head knocking painfully into it, causing my body to go numb for a second as black spots danced across my vision. My blood chilled when I came back to awareness to find myself with a dagger pressed against my throat, staring at a now obviously pissed off Dark Brotherhood assassin who was now keeping me immobile against the door with her own body and her cold, angry glare, and at this point I wasn't sure if the anger was directed towards me or not.  
"Where do you know him from? Who is he and how did you meet him?" Astrid demanded the information from me, obviously without a care as if anyone could hear or not, and in the back of my mind, I figured that they probably that this was what would happen is they knew Astrid well, which they all did, at least better than I did. Thanks for the heads up guys.  
The greater part of my mind, however, was focused on that fact that, as I said earlier, I was being pressed against a door by a very angry, very dangerous assassin and there was really no way for me to escape- First of all, she's physically stronger and faster and has a dagger pressed against my throat and I'm pinned to the door and probably won't be able to get out of this room unless she decides to let me. Secondly, even if I did manage to escape, well, it's the Dark Brotherhood, they found me once, they can do it again, and since it would probably count as some sort of betrayal, I would probably be hunted down like an animal and be screwed with by sadistic assassins whom I knew by name until they finally got tired of their games and killed me or, if I was lucky, I killed myself. Not exactly an appealing option by any means. My best bet would probably be to answer her honestly and hope she forgives whatever it is that I apparently did.  
"I met him on the road outside of Whiterun," I internally winced as my voice shook, "His wagon had b-broken down and he asked me to get the farmer who lived there to come f-fix it and I did." Gotta love the nervous stutter. "I didn't even know about the Brotherhood before then, it was a month before I even heard of Aventus Aretino, that's it, I swear!" I finished fervently, hoping that I had said the right thing, and the strangest thing was that it wasn't even because she could kill me if I answered incorrectly- Somehow, I had become so infatuated with her in our few encounters that I was more worried about pleasing her than about the fact that I could die with less than a flic of her wrist is she chose. Something is definitely wrong with me, but that isn't anything new. Things tend to go better for me when I don't go against my pseudo-logical urgers anyway, so I won't fight against it, no matter what the small, logical part of my brain says.  
"I see. And what is your opinion of him?" She asked me, her tone flat now, anger lessened but still present. The dagger was only a barely-there pressure on my neck now and the obviously insane part of me grinned on the inside and took this as a sign that I was diing well, though the significantly smaller, more grounded part which has been shrinking since this all start screamed at me that I shouldn't relax so soon, and other sane, annoying things that, at the moment, I didn't particularly care about.  
"He is a jester and a fool, perhaps an assassin as well, but a fool none the less. He means nothing to me." The ice in her eyes melted a bit and I could almost see the unnervingly self satisfied smirk trying to creep onto her face.  
"And what of the Night Mother, our Unholy Matron. What of our mistress?" She asked slowly, and despite the slight edge of mocking in her tone, her expression and tone of voice became unreadable, but I did feel the dagger press ever so slightly more firmly into my neck. I wasn't sure how she wanted me to answer this question, however. "Well, Dragon? What of her?" The dragger pressed firmly into my skin now as she asked again, obviously impatient with my lack of immediate answer. I replied with the first thing that I could think to say.  
"You are the only mistress I serve. No other being in the world comes before you Astrid. To me, you are and will always be better than the Night Mother." She did not immediately react, no change in expression or movement, the dagger neither pushing more or less against my neck. The waiting was unbearable but the possessive, predatory smirk that unexpectedly materialized on her face was almost worth the wait.  
"That is a very good answer, pet." She absolutely lathered the endearment with honey. The next thing I knew, the dagger disappeared back into wherever she hid it in her armor and I could finally breath again without the worry of accidently slitting my own throat on it. However, she did not move away, as I expected, and kept me pinned against the door and I didn't bother trying to escape. I won't lie and try to deny I that I found the position enjoyable without the immediate danger of the dagger.  
"A very good answer indeed." She continued in a slow, low voice, drawing it out, obviously enjoying he power that she had over me. Her right hand, now free of the burden of the knife, slid up my arm from wrist to shoulder at an excruciatingly slow pace. I began to shiver, not from fear or chill but from a feverish desire that I had never experienced before as the deceptively gentle hand continued up my arm, over my shoulder and and around the curve of my neck and finally threaded itself into my hair and stopped and was completely still.  
Then, unexpectedly, the gentle touch turned slightly harsher as her hand, with no warning, gripped a handful of my hair and yanked my head back a few inches, not far enough to cause more than a sharp sting that passed quickly or to do any real harm, just enough to get the message through, though I already knew what it was and I had already accepted it. And as I was forced to gaze up into her gloating brown eyes, I decided that she definitely knew that I had already known and I also realised that this may have been nothing more than a game or some sick powerplay for her. I also realised that I didn't care nearly as much as maybe I should have.  
"Remember those words in the days to come, love, because there may come a time when you may have to chose between keeping your word and breaking it, and I will not be happy should you chose to break it." Her eyes narrowed dangerousl at me as she spoke her final words. "Know this- If you try to run or if you try to leave me, I will find you and you know I will with little trouble and you will not like the consequence," She gave another tug as a slightly painful reminder, "And always remember, my pet-" My breath caught in my throat as the look in her eyes held me frozen.  
"Always remember that you belong to me." And with those final words, her lips, every bit as soft and infinitely more violent than I had ever hoped for, slammed roughly against my own submissive one, and her unique taste, slightly metalic yet strangely very similar to vanilla and cinnamon as well, mingled with the taste of my own blood, drawn by the violent and volatile nature of the kiss and the controlling, possessive, undeniably volatile nature of our new "relationship" or whatever it is that this could be rightly called.  
She completely dominated me in the kiss, in such a way that I had no choice but to submit to her will. The scariest part is that I definitely would not have changed it if I could have.


	4. Chapter 4

OG AN Summary: When I was a freshman in FUCKING HIGH SCHOOL we did High School Musical the musical and I was Ms. Darbus, but I thought that needed like 3 paragraphs to explain I guess XD

I nearly jumped a mile high when I heard Astrid's dark, sultry voice address me with a familiar "Welcome home, dear Sister", as I returned to the sanctuary after another of several missions from Nazir. After that little incident from when Cicero first came to our sanctuary, I initially tried to avoid her, and it worked shockingly well for the first two days. Then, I heard Babette mention that she had been on a mission since the day after Cicero's arrival, and I realised that my not seeing her had nothing to do with my mediocre "avoiding-skills". It had been about a week since then, and she had been gone the entire time.  
And that, my dear, is why I was so surprised to see her leaning against the archway like she normally did before... whatever it was that happened, happened, and to hear her actually speaking to me in the tone that she normally used- It felt almost as if what had happened a week ago had simply not even occured. Not knowing how else to take this, I simply lowered my gaze from the shocked stare that I had been giving her for a split second and replied "It's good to see you Sister. I trust you mission went well". Yeah, it wasn't particularly interesting or useful, but it was the only thing that I could think of when my mind kept trying to race back to the Encounter (caps intended) that we had had the day of Cicero's arrival. Well, actually, I suppose I could have asked what exactly that was last week and how she can just act like nothing even happened, but I've got a feeling that that might not go over so well at this given moment, especially after last week, so it's probably best that I said that instead.  
There was a very short silence as I admired the pattern of the stone used to make the floor, feeling like if I looked up, I would become trapped in he gaze and be totally at her mercy one again. A small part of my mind, the part that had taken over that day informed me that I definitely should look up and let myself get trapped because I obviously hadn't disliked it last time. The larger part, namely the sane part, which had been overpowered in that particular moment but was in charge once again, told me to just keep looking down. I listened to the sane one. Finally, of all of the responses that she could have given me, she merely laughed! Laughed! It took all of my willpower to keep a pout off of my face at that, which worried me a bit.   
Once her short laugh died down, she replied, her tone betraying her amusement in a way that her eyes probably would have if I had let myself look at them. "Yes, it went wonderfully, though I must tell you, my dear, that I've actually been home for the past three days." At that, I couldn't help but jerking my head up to look at her in shock.  
"What?" I asked intelligently after a moment when she didn't elaborate and merely looked back at me through brown eyes that were surprisingly sweet looking. A smile flitted briefly across her lips at my reply before her eyes narrow and her lips pulled down into a frown that almost had me taking a step back, though I managed to control myself somehow.  
"The fool of a jester, Cicero," She growled in answer, "I decided to use the extra time that I had before I absolutely had to be home to do some spying of my own. I've been sneaking around the sanctuary for the past three days to see what he's up to. Babette and Arnbjorn both know because they could smell me, and now you know as well, but to the knowledge of the other assassins I've only just returned this morning." She didn't need to tell me that I should not inform any of the others.   
"But why all of the secrecy?" I asked once she finished, both of us still staring eachother down, though I must admit that, had this been a proper staring contest, she probably would have won, "I can understand wanting to keep an eye on Cicero," And, looking at things from her perspective, and even from my own, I could understand easily, "But why would you hide from the others?"  
Her gaze sharpened as I said that, and I suddenly felt like I was under Madesi's magnifying glass, being observed and examined, not for imperfections or flaws but for dishonesty, deception and betrayal, causing me to freeze and analyse what I had just said to determine what I had said that had set her off. Her eyes continued to search my expression for whatever it was that she was looking for before she relaxed minutely, though she remained still partially guarded as she replied, "Sister, either you are incredibly loyal to me or you are incredibly naive. I'd have to say that you are probably both." My eyebrows raise at that comment.  
"What do you mean by that, Astrid?" I slowly questioned, still trying to figure out what I had said that had alarmed her in some way. At my question, or perhaps at my use of her name rather than simply calling her "Sister", I can't be sure which, she smirked characteristically and replied.  
"You may not realise this, dear, but, though I have little doubt as to you're loyalty towards me," Her smirk widened and I was pretty sure that she and I were both thinking of last week, particularly my declaration of loyalty at the end of a dagger, "There are some members of this sanctuary who would easily choose the night mother over me, should a situation in which they had to chose so arise. I needed to determine who those specific members were..." She trailed off there, breaking the eye contact to look slightly off into space, lost in thought for a moment with an expression on her face that, as usual, I was unable to read.  
"But that is something that we can discuss later." She continued, pulling herself out of her thoughts and looking back at me, her eyes as penetrating as ever, "Right now, Dragon, I have a mission for you." My name rolling off of her tongue had me hanging on to every word she said, not merely in spite of but perhaps because of the serious tone that she was using.  
"I am your's to command, Mistress." I toned immediately and easily, glad when her eyes, if nothing else, expressed her pleasure at my words.  
"Good. Now, I'm heard Cicero speaking to someone in the room where we are keeping the night mother..."  
Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?  
A small amount of time later, I found myself standing in front of the night mother's Iron-maiden-like crypt, wondering how long I would have to be in there for. It was sure to be uncomfortable, especially since I wouldn't be the only one in there... I wondered if, perhaps, there was any way that I could find somewhere else in the room to hide so that I wouldn't have to get in it, but even if there was somewhere else in the room to hide, I wouldn't have time, seeing how I just heard Cicero's voice from the large chamber holding the training area and the small pond. I sighed, giving myself only one or two more seconds of mental preparation before I sucked it up and pulled open the large metal doors, glad that Cicero was thorough in that respect so that the hinges didn't creak as I pulled them open. I didn't even let myself take a look at the ancient, preserved corpse and I just stepped into the sarcophagus and pulled the doors shut behind me just as quickly so that I wouldn't get a chance to examine the remains of the woman who's tomb I was undoubtably desecrating.  
There I stood, as far from the corpse as I could get in there without being stabbed by the spikes, because, as it turns out, her crypt really is an iron maiden. As it was, I knew that I was just barely not touching her, and I prayed that Cicero would hurry up and meet with whoever the traitor is so that I can get out of here. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for very long before the door to the room finally opened and then shut. Within seconds, the cursed jester began to speak, surprisingly not to some traitor within our ranks but to the Night Mother instead! I must have waited for fifteen minutes, at least, just listening to the fool ramble to the Night Mother, waiting for whatever operative it was to enter the room as well when it finally dawned on me that perhaps this is what Astrid had heard- Cicero speaking to the corpse, rather than to some traitor who was planning on taking her down.  
"Poor Cicero... Dear Cicero..." A voice spoke up in my head- not my own voice in any way, but the voice of an old woman, ancient, wise and powerful. It also scared the living hell out of me, nearly causing me to jump forward into the preserved body... Which I suddenly realised that I could see due to some unearthly glow that I hadn't realised until now had started to eminate from it.  
"Such a humble servant, but he will never hear my voice, for he is not the Listener." The voice in my head paused, getting stronger as it spoke and the glow brightened even more as the Voice, which I think it might be safe to assume is the Night Mother, continued. "But you, my child... you are my Listener.". It took every single ounce of willpower that I had as well as clasping both of my hands firmly over my mouth for me not to gasp or speak back or do something in reply, thus giving away my location to the insane jester outside of the coffin who continued to ramble on as if he could hear nothing. Which he couldn't.  
"Yes, you, you who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones, I give you this task. Journey to Volunruud. Speak to Amaund Motierre." Outside of the Tomb, Cicero continued to grovel to the Night Mother, completely ignorant of what was occuring inside of the iron maiden.   
"Tell Cicero that the time has come. Tell him the words that he has been waiting so long to hear, "Darkness rises when silence dies.".  
Without any warning at all, the doors to the tomb fell open, causing me to stumble out, despite the fact that I hadn't been leaning against the doors, and I would have run into the shocked and soon to be enraged jester had I not caught myself.  
"WHAT!" Shouted Cicero the second the shock left him, which was surprisingly probably less than a second after I steadied myself. "WHAT TREACHERY IS THIS!" Immediately afterwards Cicero reached to his side and pulled out an excessively sharp and wicked looking dagger and continued to scream, "DEFILER! DEBASER AND DEFILER! YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE SANCTITY OF THE NIGHT MOTHER'S COFFIN!! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" He screamed as he advanced towards me, wielding his wicked looking dagger in a way that I was very surprised he was capable of, a way which actually made me worry of I would be able to defend myself from him, or if I would even be able to pull my own dagger out before he could use his. None-the-less, I knew that if I were to pull out my own dagger now, that would be taken as some sign of guilt and he would immediately attack. Hoping to somehow stop this situation from turning bloody, or at least to stall long enough for someone else to come bursting in, preferably Astrid, as I would rather not fight him alone,I held up both of my hands and exclaimed back to him.  
"Hang on, hang on, wait a minute. The Night Mother spoke to me!"   
That gave him pause for a few seconds and his expression changed from fury to puzzlement for a second as he processed that information. "She... She spoke... to you?" He said in a dazed tone, and I thought that I might be in the clear for a second, until, suddenly, his expression went from puzzled to even more pissed off than before.  
"LIAR! The Night Mother will only speak to the Listener, and there is NO LISTENER!" He continued him advance upon me, and I backed up as he came forward, surprised that he didn't absolutely lunge at me.  
"She told me to tell you "Darkness rises as silence dies!" I blurted out in a final attempt to get him to back off, though as I said it I prepared myself to grab my dagger to defend myself. What shocked me is that, as it turns out, I didn't have to. He froze right where he was, staring at me for a second before the hand wielding the dagger suddenly fell to his side as he asked, "She said those words... Darkness rises as silence dies.. to you." I nodded in confirmation, at which he suddenly jerked around to face away from her and began muttering to himself, though she could still hear what he was saying. "But those are the words, the binding words... Written in the Keeper tomes... The signal so that Cicero would know... Mother's only way of speaking to poor Cicero..." His muttering got so quite that I couldn't hear for a moment before he suddenly spun around to face me again,l startling me quite a bit.  
"Then.. It's true!" He cried happily, "She's back! Our Lady is back! She has chosen a Listener! She has chosen you! All hail the Listener!" And with that, the fool broke into a long bout of mad laughter, until Astrid burst into the room from the door opposite to them, dagger out and glowing green with what was obviously poison.  
"Alright, reveal yourself, who are you talking to!? Who is the traitor?!" I suddenly found myself being pulled by my wrist away from Cicero and defensively behind Astrid as she bared her sickly glowing green elven dagger at the insane man who was still laughing, though not quite as hard.  
"Oh, I spoke only to the Night Mother!" Cicero shot back excitedly, hopping up in down in a way that was very reminiscient to a young boy who needed to use the restroom. "Cicero spoke to the Night Mother... And Night Mother spoke to her, she spoke to the Listener!" Cicero spoke more quickly and with more energy as he went on.  
Astrid scoffed, then glanced back at me for a moment, before interogating the fool, "What? The Listener? What is this madness?"   
I knew the question was meant for both of us, but Cicero beat me to it by saying, "Not madness, it's true! It's true! the Night Mother has spoken, the silence had been broken, the Listener has been chosen!" The Jester squealed annoying.  
Astrid glared at the man for a moment more before turning to me, ignoring the jester in favor of looking me over for a moment to check for any injuries, then grasping my chin in a vaguely gentle way and speaking. "When Cicero began screaming, I knew that you'd been discovered. Are you alright?" Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help the fact that I blushed slightly at that, cursing my pale skin as I knew it was very visible, especially when she smirked ever so slighly in a way only I could see from being so close to her. The stupid blush took on a even darker shade when Cicero suddenly felt the need to comment.  
"Astrid and the Listener, sitting in a tree" The jester began to sing, and probably would have finished the song if not for the Astrid suddenly letting go of my face and, without a word, flung the dagger in her hand at his head, purposely missing I assume, though it could not have been by any more than a hairbreadth at most. It was close enough, at any rate, that the mad man stopped with his stupid song and just giggled to himself. Personally, if I had been her, I wouldn't have purposely missed. Just saying.  
"Then what have you to tell me about this? And what is this maddness that fool is spewing about you being the Listener?" She asked in a more professional tone than a second ago, not tooking me this time, but still standing not more than a foot away from me at most.   
"I'm afraid what he speaks is not complete madness for once, Mistress." I replied, "As it happens, he truly was speaking to the Night Mother alone." Astrid scowled, looking at the fool who was currently in the corner of the room doing some insane, awkward happy-dance and totally ignoring us for the time being.  
"I should have known that he would do something so foolish." The nordic woman scoffed, then turned back and pinned me with a look that I couldn't decipher, and then asked me in startlingly calm and slow voice. "But what of this talk of you being the Listener?"  
I froze at that point, realising that she would definitely not be even less pleased about this than she was last week when Cicero first came here. None-the-less, I would only make it worse by hesitating, so after a mere second I collected my thoughts and replied, carefully, monitoring and assessing my every word.  
"That... would appear to also be true. She spoke to me while I was hiding in the crypt. She said that I'm the listener... And she also told me to go to Volunruud to speak to Amaund Motierre." As I spoke, I stared up into Astrid's eyes, trying to determine what she felt, but again, she was unreadable to me.  
"I see." Her words cut off anything else I could have said. "Come with me. We will discuss this somewhere more... private." She looked to our right and my gaze followed hers and I saw that basically all of the other Assassin's beside Cicero, who was now by the Night Mother's coffin, still dancing like an idiot, were all standing in the doorway opposite the one Astrid had entered through, some sheathing their weapons, some already having them put away, all with various expressions on their faces. Babette, unsurprisingly, looked extremely amused. Veezara looked slightly worried for me. Nazir and Gabrielle looked pretty much indifferent. Festus looked completely pleased about the whole "Listener" thing. Arnbjorn's expression had me worried that he was about to go werewolf on me and kill my oblivious ass (no shocker there). Cicero was still dancing like an idiot.   
After maybe two seconds, I realised that Astrid was no longer standing next to me, and was not striding down the stairs. Like a puppy, I followed, totally unsure about what was going to happen, but it's probably going to be something very much like what happened next week. The sane part of the me, the part that was slowly shrinking as that soon-to-be-if-we-kept-it-up-like-this familiar and definitely less sane part of me grew, screamed at me as Astrid entered her bedroom to run, to get my stupid self out of there and leave, not just the Dark Brotherhood, but Skyrim as well, to change my name, my look, and make a new life for myself where Astrid and the other Assassins would never find me. I had gotten oddly good ignoring that part.  
And besides, even if I did run, I remember what she said last week, "Know this- if you try to run, or if you try to leave me, I will find you, and you know I will with little trouble." So running away was kind of out of the question, even though, besides that every shrinking part of me, I can't honestly say that I actually wanted to.  
Astrid opened the plain wooden door, and I expected myself to regret not running when I had the chance, but surprisingly, that feeling of dread actually lessened inside me... Perhaps it's because now I no longer had that choice and I had to follow through.  
I followed Astrid through the dark entryway and experienced a surprisingly pleasant feeling of deja vu as the door, again, swung shut as soon as I was clear of it, immediately followed by all of the air rushing out of my lungs as I was slammed roughly against the door, this time managing not to his my head on it, and a larger body slammed against mine, sandwiching me against the door, her hands pinning mine to the door. She lean forward so that her mouth was right next to my ear.  
"So the Listener then... Tell me, what does this mean for us?" Though there was no dagger against my throat this time, I knew that I had to answer carefully regardless.  
"It... it changes little, Mistress. The Night Mother may have founded the dark brotherhood, but you are the only Mistress I serve, none come before you." She laughed at this, but it was a cruel sound in comparison to earlier.  
"Of course that's what you think, especially right now... But opinions and ideas can change." She pressed against me even harder, slowly reaching a point where the pressure was almost painful.  
"They'll try to take you away from me you know. Cicero, the other traitors to this Sanctuary, and especially the night mother. Now that she has chosen you as her Listener, she especially will try to lay claim to you now, but none of them can have you, especially not her." The dark, possessive tone in her voice became more pronounced as she went on, pressing me so tightly against the door that I could scarcely breathe.  
"And do you know why they can't have you, my sweet? It's because you already belong to me. None are permitted to touch what is mine and you are mine. Mine! You understand that, dear, don't you?" Her question felt like a trap, but as it was, I could barely get enough oxygen in my lungs not to pass out then and there, so I had no choice but to answer.  
"Yes, yes Astrid, I know, I'm your's, I belong to you!" I gasped out, unable to tell if that was the correct thing to say since I couldn't see her face, but knowing that what I said was the truth.  
"Hmm... I don't think you truly understand though. I think it's time I showed you what it means to belong to me be, because I don't think you truly do understand." Suddenly, she yanked back and the room was spinning around me for a moment, then I found myself lying onto the fur-covered bed that she had thrown me upon. I couldn't move for a second as I tried to pay off my oxygen debt and reorient myself with the room, but that second cost me any chance of escape, because in that one second that I took to reconnect myself with the world, the assassin with the enchantingly dangerous and sexy voice had time to come over and pin me down to the bed.  
"It's time for you to learn, pet, what it means to be mine." She drawled with a smirk as she stadled my waist and held my wrists down above my head with one hand while the other hand trailed down to the first clasps in my armour, just above my breasts.  
"Wait, Astrid, stop-" I started, realising what might be going, and finally I began to struggle, but I didn't get a chance to continue as her lips suddenly brushed against mine for the second time ever, stilling my entire body with just one action. She moved away for just a second, before sweeping back in for real kiss that completely stopped me from struggle and made me give in to her fully as her other hand finally undid the first three clasps on my black and red armour and began to pull it away.  
Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?  
Afterwards, we lay under the covers of the bed, spooning, her arms holding me in a way that made me feel trapped, caged. I normally would have hated it, but for some odd, sick reason that I don't totally understand, it was pleasant because it was her who trapped me. I think I understand what she meant by belonging to her. One of her hands lazily but possessively stroked my stomach, and the other was entwined with one my hands. My other hand lay there, doing nothing, and I was currently staring at that hand for lack of anything else to stare at.  
"Are you okay?" She asked me, startling me out of my staring contest with my own hand. Her voice was probably the most gentle that I had ever heard it, and I could even detect some concern in it. I though about her question before replying.  
"Yes," I said after a moments silence, "I'm fine, I think." I could feel her nod and then the kiss she placed on the back of my neck before the hand stroking my stomach stopped and curled around me, pulling me closer to her, her chin settle on one of my shoulders easily and naturally, and I marveled at how oddly perfectly we fit together in the back of my mind.  
"And are you mad at me?" She asked, her lips right next to my ear, and I shivered ever so slightly at the smooth, seductive alto tones, causing her arm to tighten around me minutely. That question I actually had to really think about.  
"No," I finally said after a much longer silence, "I'm not angry with you right now. I'm might be in the morning, though." I let my grin flow into my tone a bit to show her I was kidding about the last part. Luckily, she understood, and laughed a bit at it even.  
"Good, then I shall get to sleep before I suffer your wrath then." Her tone was lighter now, seeming relieved, so I continued the trend.  
"It would appear so, lucky you." I smiled, though she couldn't see it, when this got another laugh out of her. Then there was another silence, this one more comfortable than the last, until I had a thought. "Wait, so... Astrid, what happens now? I mean to us and with the whole thing about the night mother and all." I stopped trying to explain what I meant when her arm tightened around me, not tightly enough to hurt but enough to cut me off.  
"You belong to me now, completely. You're mine, that's what happens now. As for the night mother... Well, tell me, how do you feel about her?" She asked, and I felt that this was a question that I could actually answer honestly, which, after a lot of squirming so that she would get the message and let me turn to face her, I did.  
"I know you didn't believe before, but you have to believe me now when I say this," I started, staring straight into her eyes so that she could see my honesty, "The night mother started the dark brotherhood and she's the reason we're all together, but for me, it's always been you Astrid. You're the real reason I wanted to join the dark brotherhood and you're the reason I've stayed, and when I said that I belong to you, I meant it, because I do. For me, Astrid, you are, and you always will be, Better Than The Night Mother."

So, that's the end of this part. There's two other related stories- Forever Better, which is the sequel, and more of the same kind. There's also a less dark, AUish drabble and One Shot collection. in kinda the same universe-ish, BTTNM: Xtras and Other Delicious Things (Or BTTNM:XO). It's different than this, though, be warned.


End file.
